Stolen Property
by CryptoDragon
Summary: A Branch story. There's been series of burglaries, Branch and the Ferg are on the case. They attempt to arrest the perpetrators and recover the property. Just a short story about a normal case.


It was around morning tea time when Deputy Branch Connally parked his vehicle outside the Red Pony. The pub was seemingly out in the middle of nowhere yet did good business. The personable owner and good food made up for the drive. Unfortunately for Branch that was not why he was there. There had been a series of break-ins along Turner Street in Durant. The neighbour of the latest victim had seen the vehicle the burglar was driving. Branch had tracked the vehicle to one Leo Townsend, who claimed to have been working at the Red Pony that night. So Branch decided to drive over and ask Henry about it. He could have rang but he wanted to get out of the office. Besides he liked the Red Pony, he had had good times there with friends and dates. The place was closed but Henry's car was there. Branch entered without bothering to knock. Inside Henry was busy behind the counter doing something. He was wearing his reading glasses so Branch guessed he was doing paperwork.

"Branch, what can I do for you?" Henry asked politely.

"Hey Henry. Just need to ask about one your employees," Branch said sweeping his hat off his head and leaning against the counter.

Henry straightened, and indicated for Branch to proceed.

Branch had a sudden impulse to tell him to relax. He bit it back with a slight smile, he had a feeling Henry would be offended if he said that.

"Was Leo Townsend working here last night?"

Henry looked slightly concerned, "No. Has he done something I should know about?"

Branch shook his head, "sorry Henry can't say."

He nodded in thanks, put his hat back on and left.

So Leo had not been working after all. He would have to get a warrant and search Leo's place for the stolen property.

A phone call and a visit to the courthouse later and he had the warrant.

Leo's house looked a bit like a rubbish bin had been emptied inside it. It made him feel dirty just being there. He and the Ferg had gone over the lounge and were about to start on the kitchen/dining room when a car stopped outside. It was not Leo, he had been there when they arrived. He had been reluctant to let them search his house. After seeing the warrant he had agreed to wait outside while they worked.

They heard the car door open followed by Leo talking to someone. Ferg had a discreet look outside.

"Its' a girl," he said sounding confused. There had been no record of a girl living here.

"Do you recognise her?" Branch asked. Ferg looked at her again, then at Branch shaking his head.

The front door swung open and the female fury stormed in.

"What the hell are you doing searching our home? Get out or I'm calling the cops!"

Branch looked at her and calmly showed her the search warrant, "we have a warrant to search the place, also ma'am we are the police so go ahead call the sheriff."

She dismissed the warrant with a single look and twist of her lip. "A search warrant for what?"

"Ma'am if you and Leo here could wait outside we will get it on with our job and be out of your way that much quicker."

Leo grabbed her arm and whispered something to her, she gave them another hard look before letting him take her outside.

"What was that about?" Ferg asked.

"Don't know."

"You think he got rid of the stuff already?"

"Don't know Ferg. Let's just search the place so I can get out of here and into a shower."

A search of the kitchen/dining room revealed nothing but more rubbish, same with the bathroom. In the bedroom they found a paper bag containing some of the stolen jewellery. Three necklaces, a handful of rings and a pair of earrings. They collected them as evidence and arrested Leo and his girlfriend.

At the station they interviewed them separately. Both blamed the other for the robberies.

Sheriff Longmire called Branch into his office to ask him about Leo and his girlfriend Michelle who were locked up in separate cells.

Branch explained the situation.

"Arrest Leo for it." Walt ordered. "It was his car and his alibi does not check out. What do you have on Michelle?"

"The jewellery was found in their bedroom. She was pretty hostile towards us."

Walt nodded and scratched his jaw, "where does she claim to be those nights?"

"At a friend's place. Ferg's is checking up on it now."

The friend confirmed Michelle's alibi and Branch let her go. She stormed out of the jail without saying anything to any of them, ignoring Leo's shout for her to tell them that she stole the jewellery.

They had yet to recover the rest of the stolen property. Still missing were two laptop computers, one x-box, three guns, and a replica samurai sword.

It was lunch time and they were writing up the arrest report for Leo.

Ferg washed down his lunch with coffee, "I think we should see that friend of hers again. She seemed nervous when I was talking to her."

Branch shrugged, "maybe it's the uniform, she could have been intimidated."

He thought it over. They didn't have any other leads. "Alright, we will go talk to her."

The friend was a pretty brunette named Courtney. Ferg was right she seemed nervous about talking to them. Real nervous.

"I really don't know anything," she repeated for the tenth time. Branch was looking around while Ferg asked about Leo, or if Michelle had said anything about the robberies. She hadn't told them anything except, "I really don't know anything".

Her house was nothing like her friend's. It was clean and tidy. There was even a vase of fresh cut flowers on the dining-room table. Out the window above the table Branch saw a garden shed.

"When was the last time you were in that shed?" he asked.

She froze, gave him a panicked caught look then ran for the door.

"Whoa," Branch said, catching her by the arm. She swung her arm up to hit him, Ferg caught it before she connected.

"Why'd you run?" He demanded, pulling her arm and fist away from Branch.

"I'm going to need you to open that shed for me?" Branch said calmly.

She collapsed down on the ground crying. They released her arms and Ferg stood in front of the door. Branch didn't think she would run, however it payed to be prepared.

"It's all in the shed, isn't it?" he asked her softly.

She nodded, "yes. I didn't want to, she made me keep it here. She didn't want it at their place in case you found it."

Ferg pulled her up from the ground.

With her permission they searched the shed and found the rest of the stolen property. They arrested Courtney and then Michelle. With Courtney's arrest, Michelle admitted to storing the property in the shed.


End file.
